How to choose a photo storage service

In November of 2020, Google — which had offered unlimited storage for what it called “high quality” (read: compressed) photos — announced that, as of June 1st, 2021, “unlimited” was being changed to “up to 15GB on your Google account.” Since then, photo and video storage has counted against your total of 15 free gigs on a Google account, along with your Gmail, Google Drive files, and other stored data. Once you hit that 15GB threshold, you have to buy into the Google One service to increase your storage capacity.

You can, of course, simply pay for Google One (plans start at 100GB for $1.99 a month). But it’s a good idea to check out your alternatives. Below are some of the main photo storage services available to you, along with their basic fees. (Note: We’ve only included services that have features specifically geared toward photos, not more general storage services such as Dropbox.)

Google provides each of its accounts with 15GB of free storage. Originally, Google stored an unlimited number of photos for free as long as you allowed them to be compressed to 16 megapixels. Videos were kept to a maximum of 1080p. (Data such as closed captions could be eliminated to save space.) “Original quality” photos — those that were not compressed — were not part of this unlimited plan but were counted as regular files.

However, as mentioned above, starting on June 1st, 2021, Google began including photos in its storage calculations, so once you hit that 15GB ceiling, you have to buy into the Google One service for additional storage space. (If you’ve been using Google Photos since before June 1st, 2021, photos you uploaded before the new plan went into effect don’t count toward your 15GB limit.)

Google One currently starts at 100GB of storage for $1.99 a month ($19.99 a year) and proceeds to 200GB for $2.99 a month ($29.99 a year) or 2TB for $9.99 a month ($99.99 a year). The 2TB plan also comes with a VPN for Android phones. I

Google does have a Manage storage tool that estimates how much time you have left before you have to purchase more storage space (based on previous usage). The same page also helps you discard blurry photos, too-large videos, and other items that may take up space.

If you’re part of Apple’s ecosystem, then you have easy access to iCloud Photos, Apple’s equivalent to Google Photos. iCloud Photos is connected to the Phone app on your Mac or iOS device as a backup for your photos. You automatically get 5GB of storage space associated with your iCloud account; after that, you can go to iCloud+, which costs 99 cents per month for 50GB, $2.99 per month for 200GB, and $9.99 per month for 2TB. (This is for the US; other countries have different fees.) Windows users can also access iCloud Photos via an associated app; Android users will have to access it using a browser.

Flickr has a free plan as well, but it’s limited to 1,000 photos (50 non-public) — within certain guidelines: photo files are limited to 200MB and video files to 1GB. For unlimited storage without ads, you pay either $9.49 a month, $72.99 annually, or $132.99 for two years (plus tax). Other advantages to a paid annual membership include stats about which of your photos are trending and a variety of discounts from several companies, including Adobe and SmugMug.

Speaking of SmugMug, this long-lasting service is also available, offering storage, portfolios, and sales opportunities for professionals. If you’re just interested in storage, you can store a variety of image formats: you get 512GB for $3 a month, up to 1TB for $5 a month, and each additional TB for another $5 a month.

If you want to exhibit and sell your photos, a Portfolio plan costs $31 a month or $246 a year for unlimited uploads, an online storefront, payment integrations with credit cards and PayPal, and various other sales features. The Pro plan ($45 a month or $384 a year) adds branded packaging and other features. If you’re interested in trying it out, you can get a 14-day trial.

Canadian company 500px is actually more for professional photographers than your average snap-and-save picture taker. It offers pros a place to store, exhibit, and license their work. So if you have ambitions to start peddling your photos, 500px may be worth checking out.

The site offers two paid plans. The first, modestly named Awesome, offers unlimited uploads, priority support, no ads, a history of “liked” photos, gallery slideshows, and a profile badge for $59.88 a year or $4.99 monthly. The Pro plan adds a way to display your services and organization tools for $119.88 a year or $9.99 monthly. (You get a discount on your first year: Awesome costs $47.88 a year or $3.99 monthly, while Pro goes for $71.88 a year or $5.99 monthly.) And if you want to make a bit of money, you can submit your photos to be licensed for stock usage through 500px.

There is a free ad-supported plan that gives you seven uploads a week. When you sign up, you can try out the Pro plan for two weeks before committing yourself.

Photobucket’s opening page emphasizes group sharing — the idea of sharing all your photos with family and friends. That being said, the lowest-cost My Bucket plan offers 1TB of storage, auto-backup, and other features for $5 a month or $50 a year. The Group Buckets plan costs $8 a month or $80 a year, and adds group and social sharing, along with photo editing tools; there’s a two-week trial available. More serious users can try the Hosting plan, which charges $13 a month or $140 a year and adds embedded links for hosting.

DeviantArt calls itself “the world’s largest art community” with a social network for visual artists of all kinds. The purpose is less simple storage than to upload, tag, and share your art (which can include photography). With a free membership in DeviantArt, there are no restrictions on how much you upload for public access, and you get admission to DA’s community of artists and art lovers. You can also sell your art for up to $100 per item.

Core Members enjoy additional perks. For $6.67 a month, you get to sell your art with no commission fee, reduced monetization fees, the ability to upload videos and larger files, and a $1,000 max price per digital item, along with access to DA’s AI feature called DreamUp. For $8.33 a month, you get a Pro account, with more storage, lower fees, and additional features. The Pro+ level costs $12.50 a month; it decreases fees, increases access to other features, and lets you create a custom portfolio website.

Amazon provides its Prime members with a grab bag of extras along with the free shipping. In addition to the video offerings, music streaming, and other goodies, you get unlimited photo storage for $14.99 a month or $139 a year.

A nice perk is that you can share that unlimited storage with five friends or family members in what is called the Family Vault. Everything there is accessible to everyone who shares the Vault. “Unlimited,” by the way, does not include videos or other files; for those, Prime members get 5GB of storage, and after that, there is a long list of storage plans available starting from $1.99 a month / $19.99 a year for 100GB.

That’s something to keep in mind if you drop your Prime membership. In that case, according to the Amazon instructions, “the unlimited photo storage benefits associated with the membership end. All uploaded photos count toward your Amazon Drive storage limit.” The total storage for non-Prime members (stills and video) is 5GB.

While OneDrive is a more general storage service, it does include a photo storage section that offers some very basic features such as albums and the ability to share, caption, or crop photos. OneDrive includes 5GB of free storage, (15GB for your email), upgrade to the Basic plan and you get 100GB for $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year. If you’re already a user of the company’s productivity package, Microsoft 365 Personal (which costs $6.99 a month or $69.99 a year), you can take advantage of the 1TB of storage that comes with the deal. A family plan lets up to six people share up to 6TB of storage, as well as all the productivity apps, for $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year.

Unlike 500px and DeviantArt, which are tailored more toward professional creators, Degoo is geared toward the everyday photographer who uses images to make memories. In fact, the site touts its AI engine, which it says will “show you the best moments of your life.” To that end, its free ad-based version provides 20GB of storage; you can view or download photos on an unlimited number of devices but only upload from three. (You’re also restricted to mobile; a paid version is necessary to use it on a desktop.) You have to access a free account at least every 90 days to keep it active. Paid accounts include Pro ($2.99 / month), which removes the ads and time limit and gives you 500GB of storage, and Ultimate ($9.99 / month), which gives you 5,000GB of storage.

If you’re concerned about privacy and like the idea of encryption, an open-source service called Cryptee, which is based in Estonia, offers to keep all your photos encrypted using AES-256 (you have to enter an encryption key along with your password to gain access). It offers storage for both documents and photos; the photo feature lets you organize your images in albums and select favorites. You can access up to 100MB of storage for free. After that, for €3 (about $3.30) a month, you get up to 10GB; for €9 (about $10) a month, you get up to 400GB; and for €27 (about $30) a month, approximately 2TB.

ImageShack has been around for quite a while — it launched in 2003 as a free image hosting service and switched to a subscription model in 2014. Nowadays, after a 30-day trial period (you don’t need to submit your credit info), you can switch to the Basic plan, which offers unlimited image storage for $3.99 a month or $37.99 a year, as well as watermarking and automatic backups. If you expect a lot more views — say, over a million per month — you can get the Pro plan for $29.99 a month or $285.99 a year; if you’re really popular, the Premium plan costs $99.99 a month or $953.99 a year.

Update, September 25th, 2024: This article was originally published in November 2020 and has been updated several times to reflect new pricing, features, and several additional services.